No News Is Good News for Proximus; Stable Revenue and EBITDA; Newcomer Expected in Mobile Market

We were pleased with narrow-moat Proximus' first-quarter results, which showed the usual stability in the Belgian market. Market share remained stable with Proximus adding 11,000 and 24,000 net customers to its broadband and mobile offerings, respectively. Sales growth of 2.7% (0.7% organically) was not translated into EBITDA growth (0.3% organically) due to inflationary cost increases and higher operating expenses. However, we expect Proximus will be able to defend itself from inflationary pressures as Belgium is a rational market where customers are willing to accept price increases. Proximus, Orange and Voo (to be acquired by Orange) have already announced price increases in most of their offerings, which should help offset any wage or energy price increases. We are maintaining our EUR 20 fair value estimate.